U.S. News & World Report incorporates 3M Ambulatory Potentially Preventable Complications grouping software for use in its Best Hospitals rankings

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 3M Health Information Systems (HIS) today announced that U.S. News & World Report will incorporate the 3M™ Ambulatory Potentially Preventable Complications (3M AM-PPCs) software in the analysis of its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals Specialty rankings.

"We are excited to work with U.S. News & World Report to incorporate 3M AM-PPCs software in the iconic Best Hospitals rankings," said Sandeep Wadhwa, MD, 3M HIS global chief medical officer. "This collaboration will provide consumers with new and valuable insights on patient safety outcomes for common outpatient surgeries. This can help inform decision making and choices for elective procedures. We also look forward to supporting health systems in their efforts to reduce adverse events by using our solution's drill-down capabilities to help identify areas for improvement."

About 70 percent of all surgeries in the U.S. now occur in an outpatient setting, according to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 2017 report. Hospitals are mostly equally balanced in revenue between inpatient and outpatient services. 3M's solution helps quality teams better measure performance in outpatient settings, which have been traditionally more difficult settings to measure longer term outcomes because recovery happens at home under less supervision.

Developed to address patient safety and quality oversight for procedures performed in hospital outpatient departments or ambulatory surgery centers, 3M AM-PPCs uses sophisticated classification logic and allows providers and payers to identify and analyze complications in outpatient settings by specific procedures, service lines, providers and facilities. Medicare and national benchmarks are also available for users to support quality performance evaluations.

A 3M analysis of more than 11 million at-risk ambulatory procedures in the Medicare population indicates that complication rates may be as high as 10 percent for certain procedures. Complications are associated with excess follow-up visits, emergency department visits and inpatient admissions, and can affect patient safety, satisfaction and emotional health.

"As care delivery shifts toward outpatient settings, outpatient quality and safety are increasingly important to patients and health systems alike," said Ben Harder, U.S. News & World Report managing editor and chief of health analysis. "U.S. News, as a trusted decision support tool for patients, is proud to use both outpatient and inpatient outcome measures in its evaluations of hospital performance. Our work with 3M has enabled us to measure and publicly report on nearly 2,000 hospitals' potentially preventable adverse events after outpatient surgeries. Specifically, U.S. News used 3M AM-PPCs software to incorporate new outcome measures, labeled 'prevention of outpatient procedural complications,' into this year's Orthopedics and Urology rankings. Similar outcome measures may be added to other specialty rankings in future editions of U.S. News Best Hospitals." 

About 3M
3M (NYSE: MMM) believes science helps create a brighter world for everyone. By unlocking the power of people, ideas and science to reimagine what's possible, our global team uniquely addresses the opportunities and challenges of our customers, communities, and planet. Learn how we're working to improve lives and make what's next at 3M.com/news or on Twitter at @3M or @3MNews.

About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and communities. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News, Real Estate, Careers and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE 3M